Thursday’s News & Notes

14 Commments

1. Poor Austin Voth has to feel like he’s been the forgotten man this year, particularly with the MLB starter auditions by three guys whose AAA stats he trumped. (I’m not saying that he’s a better “prospect” than Giolito or Lopez, just that he was more developmentally advanced.) I would think that a lot of other teams will be inquiring about him this offseason, as he’s ready to be on the back end of an MLB rotation, and the FA starters available are terrible.

   Good to see a strong outing from Joe Ross. Sorry to see that Gott made such a mess, as I hope he can contribute to the big club’s bullpen in Sept.

   Very strong finish to the year by Fedde. He had one nasty seven-run outing that ruined his AA ERA but otherwise has more than held his own. He should get an invite to the big-league camp next spring. I was quite iffy on him coming into this season and early in the year, but I’m getting more convinced. With the starter glut ahead of him, though (see comments about Voth), and the fact that he’ll turn 24 in the offseason, the Nats might be willing to listen if approached about him as well. It would take a major deal to pry him away, though.

   1. This is how good Eric Fedde has been:

      – Since May 15 (on that date his ERA was 6.62), Fedde has had 16 starts, and he has given up 1 or 0 runs in 14 of them.
      – Even with the one bad 7 run outing, Fedde’s ERA during that 3 and a half month stretch was 1.78, WHIP was 1.14, K rate was 9.25, BB rate was 2.10. Doubt there were many pitchers better from May 15 on.

      He will be in the mix for the MLB rotation by the middle of next season. Happy the Nats didn’t deal him.

      1. Wow! Thanks Pilchard, didn’t know Fedde had been that dominant.
         Starting pitchers are getting stacked up in the system.

         Gott sure picked a bad time to lay an egg.

   2. Like the D-Nats a few days ago, the G-Nats’ season ended with a rainout yesterday. The G-Nats fell just short of winning their division, but nonetheless had a very good season.

      Offense was the key to their success, led by Juan Soto and Conner Kieboom. The 17-year old Soto led all qualifying GCL hitters in average and OPS, the latter by over 80 points! He also banged out 5 long balls and 11 doubles–very impressive for such a young hitter. Move over Robles, their is another sweet swinging Dominican über prospect on your heels!

      Kieboom wasn’t nearly that good, but more than held his own after being the team’s top draft pick out of high school. It was particularly good to see him show some decent power right away–something the highly touted Jackson Reetz and Blake Perkins before him have yet to do.

      On the other hand, none of the G-Nats’ pitchers logged enough innings to where any definitive judgments are possible. That is not surprising, given the Nats’ emphasis on hitters in this year’s draft.

      1. Good update, Karl. We all wondered a bit when the Nats started Soto in the GCL instead of the Dominican, but he more than held his own. He and Kieboom should get looks at Auburn next summer.

         As for the GCL pitching, the Nats don’t draft many HS arms, so what you get there are the second-tier college pitchers (the first-tier ones get pushed to Auburn quickly), some Latin arms (the better ones this year seem to be a little old for the league), and this season a few guys like Latos and Arroyo.

      2. Robles is worth every penny paid
         @ gate admission just to see his
         Five tools on display.
         Voth is smart enough with his UW
         Huskie degree to know the old maxim: you never have enough
         Pitching .
         Harrisburg should have good april
         Squad in 17

         1. Voth is eligible for the Rule V this year, right? Does anyone have a list of guys we need to protect? Thx

            1. Voth would be a sure-fire 40-man add, as he’d be guaranteed to be drafted in Rule 5. The 40-man is tight now, but a number of guys will come off at the end of the season as free agents: Ramos, Heisey, Drew, Melancon, Scrabble, Belisle. There may be others, but that’s at least six. They will also face the difficult decision of whether to put Barrett back on the 40-man or cut him, as they did Taylor Jordan. Obviously they’ll want/need to re-sign or replace most of the guys above, but they’ll be room for at least a couple Rule 5-eligile additions.

         2. Mesa Robles Carey Vettleson
            Page.
            Better depth for playoffs

            1. Augustin healthy and
               Swagging for hags

               Soto to auburn
               Season ending up sunny for Nats
               Kudos to Hood reaching the bigs

      3. Karl, the Nats f.o. read your excellent synopsis today and reacted accordingly……….. they just promoted Soto to Auburn.
         Well done sir.

2. Former Nats Farm Hand Destin Hood got called up today by the Marlins. Good for Destin!

   1. Speaking of, for those grizzled veterans, A.J. Morris was in the news, remember him? He’s now 29 and with the Reds.

      He was traded with 2 others for Tom Gorzelanni, who was forgettable for the Nats.
      Morris blew out his shoulder right after the trade with the Cubs, so it has been a long road back.

3. A few other points of note to add to Karl – this year’s GCL squad featured a lot more power than previous. The auburns are still going to be remembered for the three lefthanders who broke into our consciousness (Watson, Ramirez, Mills) and (along with Weston Davis) are an intriguing nucleus in 2017 for Hagerstown.

   Soto has also shown good plate discipline at age 17. A number of other college bats down there and hopefully they perform at more age appropriate levels (Simonetti with 6hr, Joey Harris and his defensive pedigree, Bogetto).

   Still no stars emerged yet from the 2016 draft. Some promise that we can hope will break out after a fall of instrux polish.

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